Cheap office computer

ScumLord

I went looking to buy ram for an old Dell and when I seen it'll cost €50 + shipping (amazon, looking for PC800 ram) to upgrade the thing I thought it may be worth seeing if a new PC would be a better option.

This will be an office machine that won't run anything more taxing than a webpage or email. It needs to connect to an access database over the network but all our microsoft software is from the 2000 generation.

We can reuse the dusty keyboard/mouse/monitor so it's just the PC box itself I'm looking for. I have an open version of XP that I can use so no need for an OS.

uncle_sam_ie

How much do you want to spend?

Skylinehead

Item|Price
Intel Core i3-2105 Box, LGA1155|€116.66
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€31.61
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€62.56
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€41.54
ASRock H67M (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€66.29
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€337.65

Here's a complete guess of a budget. Nippy little CPU, integrated graphics. Could always get a Celeron for 40 quid and a dedicated GPU if you wanted.

deconduo

Something like this maybe?

Item|Price
Intel Celeron G530 Box, LGA1155|€36.91
ASRock H61M-S (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€40.59
4GB Kingston ValueRAM PC3-8500U CL7|€20.44
Samsung HD253GJ 250GB|€55.22
BitFenix Merc Beta|€31.99
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER BQT S6-SYS-UA-300W 80plus bulk|€27.62
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€231.76


Throw in a DVD drive as well if you need it.

Tij da feen

Item|Price
ASRock S1155 Intel H61 DDR3 mATX|€42.74
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€44.64
Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz DIMM 240-pin CL9|€20.88
Corsair 430 Watt CX430 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply|€40.50
Seagate 250GB Barracuda SATA-600 7200RPM 16MB 3.5" Hard Drive|€61.22
XIGMATEK Asgard III Case|€35.41
Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD-RW SATA OEM (Black)|€15.25
Shipping|Free!
Total|€260.64
This would be a very speedy machine for just office work. I would of put a small SSD in there but I didn't since you will be using XP.

ScumLord

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

How much do you want to spend?

As little as possible, this is an office PC running ancient software so it needs no bells or whistles at all.

Tij da feen

ScumLord wrote: »

As little as possible, this is an office PC running ancient software so it needs no bells or whistles at all.

Deconduo's would be the best one to go for here if you can pay by Bank Transfer, they will build it for you for 20 quid as well if you want.

uncle_sam_ie

ScumLord wrote: »

As little as possible, this is an office PC running ancient software so it needs no bells or whistles at all.

Your best bet is have a look on Adverts.ie for a second hand PC.

you could always offer him less. http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/intel-pc/1694171

ScumLord

Tij da feen wrote: »

they will build it for you for 20 quid as well if you want.

Where's the fun in that?

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

Your best bet is have a look on Adverts.ie for a second hand PC.

As it's a business PC I'd prefer to have some comeback on the parts and a paper trail for the accountant. I won't be paying VAT on this purchase so there's already savings.

uncle_sam_ie

ScumLord wrote: »

Where's the fun in that?

As it's a business PC I'd prefer to have some comeback on the parts and a paper trail for the accountant. I won't be paying VAT on this purchase so there's already savings.

Then go with Deconduo's build.

Monotype

If it's an office machine, I'd forget about a hard drive and throw in an SSD instead.

Samsung 830 - €71. Good drive.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/56865/Samsung+SSD+830+64GB+SATA+6GB's+Paper+Box.article

OCZ octane 64GB - €55. Nowhere near as good but cheap and you'll still get the fast access.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/53613/OCZ+Octane+64GB+6%2C4cm+(2%2C5)+SATA+II.article

That's plenty of space for any office programs. You could get away with 30GB, depending on your needs.

Tij da feen

Monotype wrote: »

If it's an office machine, I'd forget about a hard drive and throw in an SSD instead.

Samsung 830 - €71. Good drive.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/56865/Samsung+SSD+830+64GB+SATA+6GB's+Paper+Box.article

OCZ octane 64GB - €55. Nowhere near as good but cheap and you'll still get the fast access.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/53613/OCZ+Octane+64GB+6%2C4cm+(2%2C5)+SATA+II.article

That's plenty of space for any office programs. You could get away with 30GB, depending on your needs.

I would of speced an SSD but he'll be running XP and it doesn't play well with an SSD AFAIK.

Monotype

Good point. You can tweak the OS to be more suitable for SSDs and some of the manufacturers have released additional software for XP, but you'd be better off with the newer OS.